Teacher’s Guide to Cranky Uncle

As a science educator, my primary goal is to teach students how to evaluate claims using evidence and logic. But these skills aren’t only for scientists. As citizens in a world full of misinformation, learning how to think critically is best way to avoid being misled. Simply put, critical thinking is empowering. Unfortunately, critical thinking doesn’t come naturally. It requires hard work and practice to overcome our biased and irrational brains.

The Cranky Uncle game uses cartoons, humor, and critical thinking to fight misinformation. The game is informed by inoculation theory, a branch of psychological research that applies the concept of vaccination to knowledge. Just as exposing people to a weakened form of a virus builds immunity to the real virus, similarly, exposing people to a weakened form of misinformation builds immunity to the actual misinformation.

The purpose of the Cranky Uncle game is to familiarize players with the denial techniques in the FLICC taxonomy. The game begins with players able to access the first five techniques: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and conspiracy theories. Once they have completed all five explanations, they unlock higher levels.

I use Cranky Uncle in my classes, and my students immediately relate to the Cranky Uncle archetype, who thinks he’s making “gotcha” arguments against climate science, but in reality is committing common logical fallacies. Instead of feeling hopeless – knowing he’s wrong, but not knowing why – players learn to recognize and counter his bad arguments, hysterically making Cranky Uncle crankier throughout the game.

My students appreciate the combination of humor and real-world examples, and I appreciate how engaged they are while learning how to think critically. One student summed it up perfectly when she said that it’s “helpful to know when you’re being lied to.”  

And that’s the point… Learning how not to be fooled is empowering.

The Cranky Uncle Teacher’s Guide offers background information and classroom activity ideas for educators interested in using the Cranky Uncle game to teach critical thinking in their classes.

For another fun and engaging activity to teach critical thinking, check out Please Don’t Fail Me.

And here’s my Cranky Uncle cameo!